Reflection
by moleking
Summary: Written for Autumn Bingo/Halloween Challenge. Mirrors have always been associated with the supernatural and paranormal. When Kel purchase an old mirror, she begins to change. Leaving her friends to wonder; are these changes simple due to the passage of time or is there something more sinister afoot.
1. Chapter 1

Written for Autumn bingo/Halloween challenge. There should be at least one more chapter, uploaded sometime tonight. This is really last minute, and I did proofread, but I'm sure there are mistakes I missed. If you point them out, I'll be sure to fix them.

Disclaimer: I own nothing and am making no profit.

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The Corus markets could only be described as organized chaos, with countless people trying to going in all different direction. They bumped into each other and blocked others paths, but somehow didn't impede each others' progress. Amid this mass were two young knights. Lady Knight Keladry Mindelan pulled her best friend, Sir Nealan of Queenscove towards a trinkets shop, while he complained about the fruitlessness of the trip.

The day before, they along with some fellow knights, Neal's fiancé Yuki, and some members of the King's Own had gone out for a night on the town. After a couple drinks, Neal being the friendly, flirt he was got a little too _friendly_ with a waitress in the eyes of his Yamani fiancé. Due partially to Yuki's ability to hide her emotions, but mainly because of his general obliviousness Neal wasn't even aware she was upset. Kel being both their friends and the one to introduce them felt it was her responsibility to step-in and remedy the situation. After all their wedding was only two months away and she'd hate to see Neal trip at the finish line.

Neal still in denial that his "Yamani Blossom" could be upset without him noticing thought the outing was for an entire different reason. In his opinion he wasn't the one who got a little too _friendly._ He thought Kel and his cousin had sat entirely too close and spent too much time apart from the rest of the group to be "just friends". It seemed obvious to everybody but Kel and Dom that they liked each other. He was certain this outing was about cultivating Kel's relationship, not his. After all she's his best friend; Dom his cousin; and everybody knew Neal of Queenscove was an expert on romance. She obviously wanted advice. He figured his stoic friend was just too embarrassed to ask for help.

Once they were in the trinket shop Kel immediately honed in on the cosmetic section. Neal gave Kel a knowing smile. When trying to attract a man, wasn't the first thing a women did is spruce up their appearance? Kel normally never wore make-up. After rifling through the make-up and apparently not finding anything to her liking she moved on to the jewelry. Neal's smug smile widened, causing Kel to turn towards him slightly miffed.

"_You _need this gift for _your _fiancé. Why am _I _the only one looking?" She said, emphasizing the pronouns.

"Oh come on Kel, drop the charade. We both know who we're really shopping for"

Confused and still a bit exasperated, but use to his antics, "Yuki?" Kel asked more than stated.

Neal just tsked, "Yuki doesn't even wear Tortallan face-paint"

Kel still not sure what he was implying, and therefore unable to address his subtext, decided to just take his statement at face-value. "She mentioned last week that she was considering trying it. Shinko's been wearing some light make-up, and seems to like it. Yuki thought she might give it a try, I think she might miss her rice-powder, but still wants to fit in."

All this was said, as she browsed through the jewelry. Neal thought maybe she was trying to hide her face, so she wouldn't give herself away. But when she did look at him to ask his opinion on a necklace, her face seemed guileless.

He felt a smidgeon of doubt and in an attempt to buy himself sometime; he just shrugged. "Why don't you go try it on?"

Kel narrowed her eyes, clearly suspicious, but with a shrug of her own went to do just that. She headed towards the large, black mirror that hung on the far wall. It wasn't quite floor length. It reflected from the top of her head to about mid-thigh, but the ornate adornments made it even bigger. Kel couldn't quite tell what or even if the decorations were supposed to be something. They just seemed to be random shapes, some vaguely resembled leaves or birds. She didn't know if she'd classify them as pretty, but there was definitely something appealing about it. They did compliment the ivory inlaid pattern of flowers. Overall she guessed it had a pleasing effect, nicer than what she'd see reflected back at her anyway.

Looking down, she locked the clasp of necklace. Simultaneously twist it around and sighing resignedly she looked up and what she saw shocked her. Her hair seemed lusher, shiner; her eyes enchantingly large; and her lashes thicker. Even her skin looked better, paler and less freckled. There were countless smaller changes, she couldn't quite pinpoint. Overall, she just thought she was prettier, more lady-like. She couldn't believe that reflection was really her. She was mesmerized, but still a little skeptical.

Thinking maybe she picked up a beauty charm instead of a normal necklace. She started to look down to inspect it, when out of the corner of her eye she thought she saw the reflection of a women standing behind her. Kel turned around to apologize for monopolizing the mirror, but nobody was there. It was then that she realized Neal was talking.

"…and it would be better, healthier, I am a healer I would know, for you to just admit your feelings." He paused and looked at her expectantly. Kel having no idea what he was talking about had no idea what to say. Neal took her silence as a denial and continued. "It's not healthy to bottle up your emotions all the time. You should be more up front about your emotions and intentions. Take today for example we both know why we're really here, it's just silly to pretend otherwise."

Kel becoming even more frustrated at her friend's refusals to acknowledge his fiancé's anger, took a deep breath blanked out her face, and responded as blandly as possible, "We're here because Yuki felt slighted that you were flirted with that waitress and a gift might put her in a more forgiving mood."

"See! Right there that's exactly what I was talking about you're always hiding behind that mask! And if Yuki was really mad wouldn't I want to buy her a nice gift, not something from a place like this?"

Kel was still confused and slightly peeved. But couldn't help but be amused by his antics, and couldn't resists ribbing him, just a little bit. In the same emotionless tone she used before, she said, "I thought this would be the first in a long line of apology gifts, I didn't want to set the bar too high." By the end she couldn't help, but let a little grin slip through. Neal chuckled in response and Kel joined in.

The sound of their laughter couldn't quite cover the shopkeeper's humph. He made his way over towards them clearly angry. As he got closer he seemed to realize not just that they were nobles, but exactly who they were. Both of them had reached a certain level of fame from their exploits during the war. The heir to one of the oldest, most powerful fiefs in the kingdom and the Protector of the Small were not people you wanted to ostracize. In fact being able to telling people the Protector shopped at his stall would surely increase business. His anger quickly turned to optimism.

"Does My Lady need any help?" He asked hopeful.

"Well, I'd like to buy this necklace" Neal responded grabbing the necklace out of Kel's hand. Kel half-thinking the necklace was what caused such a miraculous change in her appearance was a bit disappointed. She clearly wasn't the only the one.

The shopkeepers face fell, but he dutifully answered, "Of course Sir" But like any good merchant he didn't give up that easy. He continued a bit flirtatiously, "But surely the lady would like something. A pretty lady could always use more jewelry."

Neal snorted at the man's obvious attempt at flattery, but Kel thought it was at calling her pretty. She glanced a bit forlornly at the ornate mirror, only to see her normal, plain reflection staring back at her. The shopkeeper followed her gaze and eager to sell her anything jumped on it.

"Are you interested in the mirror, My Lady? I noticed you admiring it early or maybe you were admiring what was reflected back at you. You're such a bonnie lass, who could blame you? It's just what a women like you needs; something to reflect your natural beauty, not petty trinkets trying to adorn what already is one of the Gods' greatest masterpieces."

The salesman was laying it on thick and Kel was obviously a little flabbergasted. Neal tried to step in, saying,

"A woman like her? I don't think she even owns a pocket mirror. " He meant it as a compliment, to emphasis her modesty and practicality. Unfortunately, it came out kind of insulting and that's the way Kel took it. She flinched a little bit. The salesman noticed and sent as much of a glare as he dared at Neal. Both because he saw his sale slipping away and as a proud father of three daughters, he believed that wasn't the way to talk about any female. Redoubling his efforts he continued,

"The previous owner of this mirror was a woman renowned world-wide for her beauty. It is said she would spend hours admiring herself in its surface. It originally wasn't for sale, but as soon as you walked in, I knew it was meant for you. It's only fitting that it would go from one beauty to another."

As much as Neal's comment stung, Kel knew it was true. She wouldn't have much use for a mirror like that. On the other hand the man looked so hopeful and she still felt a bad about unintentionally insulting his products. She hesitated, wavering on the purchase.

The merchant saw this and pounced, "I'll give you a great deal, and a discount the next time you come in."

"oh, alright" Kel figured she could always give it to one of her sisters or nieces. With both of their purchases wrapped the two knights headed back to the palace.


	2. Chapter 2

Well here chapter 2, gets a little bit scarier, but there's no way I'm going to be able to finish the story tonight. Expect one more chapter early-ish it's far enough along to count for my bingo card. Once again its been edited, but not as thoroughly as I would like, Let me know if you see any bad errors.

Disclaimer: I still don't own anything.

Kel set down the mirror to unlock her door. She was in good shape, but the mirror was heavy and she had carried it all the way from town. On the way back she had bumped into a man and nearly dropped it. Neal helped her steady it, but some of the packaging got ripped. The man laughed and made a joke about her avoiding seven years bad luck. Even if the old superstition wasn't true, Kel would hate to have bought, than lugged the mirror all the way back to the palace only to break it in front of her room. So she took a break right outside her door to shake out her muscles and catch her breath.

But she was having she was having a difficult time doing that. She felt oddly fatigued, and her breath continued to come out in short little burst, leave puffs of smoke in the suddenly chilly air. She also had the oddest sensation that someone was watching her. She glanced down at the mirror a little incredulous that carrying it would take so much out of her. In the small section on the reflective surface showing through the ripped packaging; she thought she saw a flash of someone or something behind her. She wheeled around, but nothing was there. Suddenly she regained her breath and the weariness left her body. The air, that had turned frigid just moments before, return to its previous pleasant temperature. The feeling of abnormality lingered, but Kel could dismiss the signs, so she dismissed the feeling. The temperature change could be explained by the erratic autumn weather. The fatigue could be caused by the previous late night or maybe she had just been too lax in her training.

Being out of shape was not a possibility for Kel. She decided she better go train, with a sigh she unlocked the door, and brought the mirror inside. Jump sprung up from the bed to greet her and the sparrows flew around her cheeping. All the animals seemed to hesitate, when they noticed the package. She unwrapped the mirror, thinking they were just curious about what she had gotten. Once the mirror was uncovered, she turned it around so they could see their reflections. Jump started to growl and his hackles rose. The sparrows cheeped an alarm. Some flew in the signal for enemy, while others dived at the mirror.

"What has gotten in to you?" Kel asked them, flipping the mirror over so the back was facing them. The animals calmed down a little, but Jump's hackles remained raised and the sparrows' feathers were ruffled.

"What's wrong?" she asked them again. "It's just mirror." She flipped it over to show them again. They tense, but didn't react nearly as explosively. Jump cautiously approached the mirror and sniffed. The sparrows hovered over it, preforming their own inspection. After they finished their inspections they seemed a little sheepish, but still cautious. Kel wasn't sure what to make of their behavior, she thought maybe being locked up all morning, had wounded them up. Inviting them to come out to practice court with her, she left the mirror face up on the bed and headed off to the practice courts.

Dom and Neal were already there dueling. Kel paused to admire the grace with which Dom fought. The fight turned so Neal was facing the entrance and upon the sight of her he squeaked out his her name, "Kel!"

The distraction gave Dom the opening he needed to disarm his cousin. "It was a nice try" he told the knight as he went to fetch his sword for him.

"You shouldn't have let yourself be distracted" Kel scolded.

Dom, sounded very much like Neal, swung around, "Kel! You're really here"

"Why are you guys so surprised to see me? I come here all the time."

Neal was the first to recover and teased, "Well, I thought you'd be too busy admiring your beauty in that new mirror of yours"

"Ha, Ha. Shouldn't you be with your fiancé, unless she's still upset?" Kel retorted. While Dom asked,

"What mirror?"

Neal grumbled a bit, but admitted Kel was right and then described about their morning out. In typical Neal fashion the story was told with a flourish and many embellishments. Kel tried to cut him off when he started describing the transactions for the mirror. Kel's looks or lack of wasn't something she wanted to discus in front of Dom. Neal had gotten far enough into the story that Dom got the gist of what was happening. He agreed that Kel should show more emotions and coyly mentioned with his usual flirtatious smile that, "he wouldn't mind seeing her gussied-up once in a while."

Kel fought to keep the blush from her cheeks. Brushing off both the men's comments she returned their focus back to practicing. After a good few hours of training and a long soak in the bathhouse Kel returned to her room. All her animals had already made their way back there. Jump was asleep curled up on the bed, right where she had left the mirror. A quick glance around the room located the mirror hanging by the wardrobe. When Kel looked into it, for a split second it looked like there was a different woman looking back; slender; pale, even complexion; rich, dark hair. The women could only be described as breathtakingly beautiful, but when Kel blinked she was gone. In her place was Kel's reflection, only the improved version she saw briefly at the store. The uneasy feeling, that feeling that something wasn't quite right, crept back. Kel glanced at her animals, but they were all sound asleep. A quick look back at the mirror only revealed her normal plain reflection looking uneasily back at her. Kel decide to go to bed thinking it had been a long day, and she was imagining things.


End file.
